Cuba, agriculture and socialist renewal

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International Journal of Cuban Studies

Volume 12, Issue 2

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Cuba, agriculture and socialist renewal

research-article

Author(s): Ingrid Hanon

Publication date (Print): 1 December 2020

Journal: International Journal of Cuban Studies

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Cuba, agriculture, socialism, self-management, environment, technology, solidarity economy

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Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the trajectory and dynamics of Cuban agriculture since the Revolution. It examines the main challenges, divergences and contradictions of its socialist strategy in the agrarian sector, stressing the limits of the industrial and agricultural models and the forces of production inherited from the capitalist world. For this purpose, I examine changes and continuities in terms of land management, crop production, the technological model and agricultural policy. Finally, I look at Cuban agriculture transformations in the 1990s from a social and solidarity economy perspective, signalling their contributions to the renewal of Cuban socialism.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Ingrid Hanon

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50005551

Journal ID (jcode): intejcubastud

Title: International Journal of Cuban Studies

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 1756-3461

ISSN: 1756-347X

Publication date (Print): 1 December 2020

Volume: 12

Issue: 2 ( doiID: 10.13169/intejcubastud.12.issue-2 )

Pages: 196-227

Affiliations

PhD Candidate, Auckland University, New Zealand

Article

Publisher ID: intejcubastud.12.2.0196

DOI: 10.13169/intejcubastud.12.2.0196

SO-VID: ec9213e2-0c37-4e49-9e60-16bb49086cfb

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Custom metadata

lang eng

ScienceOpen disciplines: Literary studies,Arts,Social & Behavioral Sciences,History,Cultural studies,Economics

Keywords: solidarity economy,agriculture,environment,socialism,self-management,technology,Cuba

References

Altieri, Miguel A., Companioni, Nelso, Cañizares, Kristina, Murphy, Catherine, Rosset, Peter, Bourque, Martin and Nicholls, Clara I. (1999) “The greening of the ‘barrios’: urban agriculture for food security in Cuba.” Agriculture and Human Values, 16(2), 131–40.
Bambirra, Vania (1974) La Revolución cubana: Una reinterpretación. Mexico: Editorial Nuestro Tiempo.
Benjamin, Medea, Collins, Joseph and Scott, Michael (1987) Cuba, les enjeux de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation. Paris: L'Harmattan.
Betancourt, Rafael (2018) “Social and solidarity economy and the transformation of the Cuban economic model”, International Journal of Cuban Studies, 10(2), 209–29.
Betancourt, Rafael, and Sagebien, Julia (2013) “Para un crecimiento inclusivo: empresas no estatales responsables en Cuba”, Temas, 75, 58–65.
Botella-Rodríguez, Elisa (2019) “Food import dependency in Cuba: still the Achilles' heel of the revolution?”, Bulletin of Latin American Research, 38(2), 192–207.
Burchardt, Hans-Jürgen (2001) “Cuba's agriculture after the new reforms: between stagnation and sustainable development”, Socialism and Democracy, 15(1), 141–54.
Castro, Fidel (1974) “Discurso pronunciado en el acto celebrado por el Aniversario de la muerte del líder campesino Niceto Pérez, el XV Aniversario de la firma de la Primera Ley de Reforma Agraria y el XIII Aniversario de la ANAP”, Sierra Maestra, 17 May http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/.
Castro, Fidel (1980) “Discurso pronunciado en la Sesión inaugural de la XVI Conferencia Regional de la FAO para América Latina”, Havana, 1 Sept. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/.
Castro, Fidel (1982) “Discurso pronunciado en la Clausura del VI Congreso de la ANAP”, Havana, 17 May. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/.
Castro, Fidel (1983) The World Economic and Social Crisis. Havana: Publishing Office of the Council of State.
Chonchol, Jacques (1963) “Análisis crítico de la reforma agraria cubana”, El Trimestre Económico, 30(117), 69–143.
Clausen, Rebecca, Clark, Brett and Longo, Stefano B. (2015) “Metabolic rifts and restoration: agricultural crises and the potential of Cuba's organic, socialist approach to food production”, World Review of Political Economy, 6(1), 4–32.
Companioni, N., Ojeda, Y., Páez, E. and Murphy, C. (2001) “La agricultura urbana en Cuba”, in Transformando el campo cubano. Avances de la agricultura sostenible. Havana: Actaf-Food First-Ceas, 93–109.
Companioni, Nelso, Rodríguez-Nodals, Adolfo and Sardiñas, Justa (2017) “Avances de la agricultura urbana, suburbana y familiar”, Agroecología, 12(1), 91–8.
Coraggio, José Luis (2011) Economía social y solidaria: El trabajo antes que el capital. Quito: Abya Yala.
Coraggio, José Luis (2013) “Tres corrientes en la ESS”, Temas, 75, 4–11.
Deleage, Jean-Paul (1989) “Eco-Marxist critique of political economy”, Capitalism Nature Socialism, 1(3), 15–31.
Douzant-Rosenfeld, Denise (1999) “Les défis des réformes dans l'agriculture cubaine”, Cahiers des Amériques Latines, 31, 161–80.
Dumont, René (1970) Cuba: Socialism and Development. New York: Grove Press.
Escaith, Hubert (1999) “Cuba pendant la ‘période spéciale’: ajustement ou transition”, Cahiers des Amériques Latines, 31, 55–82.
FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation) (2020) “Food balances”, http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FBSH (Accessed Aug. 2020).
Farber, Samuel (2016) The Politics of “Che” Guevara. Chicago: Haymarket Books.
Febles-González, J.M., Tolón-Becerra, A., Lastra-Bravo, X. and Acosta-Valdés, X. (2011) “Cuban agricultural policy in the last 25 years: from conventional to organic agriculture”, Land Use Policy, 28(4), 723–35.
Funes Aguilar, Fernando (2017) “Reseña sobre el estado actual de la agroecología en Cuba”, Agroecología, 12(1), 7–18.
Furtado, Celso (1976) Economic Development of Latin America: Historical Background and Contemporary Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gonzalez, Carmen (2003) “Seasons of resistance: sustainable agriculture and food security in Cuba”, Tulane Environmental Law Journal, 16: 685–732.
Guerra Vilaboy, Sergio, and Maldonado Gallardo, Alejo (2009) Historia de la Revolución Cubana. Navarra: Txalaparta.
Gürcan, Efe Can (2014) “Cuban agriculture and food sovereignty: beyond civil-society centric and globalist paradigms”, Latin American Perspectives, 41(4): 129–46.
Gutelman, Michel (1963). “L'agriculture cubaine: la réforme agraire et les problèmes nouveaux”, Etudes Rurales, 8, 62–83.
Gutelman, Michel (1965) “L'agriculture cubaine en 1964”, Etudes Rurales, 19, 5–31.
Gutelman, Michel (1967) L'agriculture socialisée à Cuba: Enseignements et perspectives. Paris: François Maspero.
Habel, Janette (2003) “Cuba. Les défis du nouveau ‘modèle‘”, Revue Tiers Monde, 173(1), 127–48.
Hanon, Ingrid (2015) “Agriculture urbaine et autogestion à Cuba”, Revue internationale de l'économie sociale: Recma, 337, 84–99.
Hanon, Ingrid (2019) “Workers' participation: the challenge of Cuban socialism”, Socialism and Democracy, 33(1), 88–111.
Hale-Dorrell, Aaron (2015) “The Soviet Union, the United States, and industrial agriculture”, Journal of World History, 26(2), 294–324.
Hernández, Gladys (2014) 'The evolution of Cuban agrarian relations”, Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, 3(2), 303–12.
Herrera, Rémy (2005) Réflexions sur l'économie cubaine. Paris: Maison des sciences économiques.
Karnoouh, Lorraine (2007) “A propos de la permanenceet du changement dans la Cuba contemporaine: un essai sur la ‘Période Spéciale‘”, Outre-Terre, 1(18), 337–44.
Koont, Sinan (2008) ‘A Cuban success story: urban agriculture’, Review of Radical Political Economics, 40, 285–91.
Levins, Richard (2005) “How Cuba is going ecological”, Capitalism Nature Socialism, 16(3), 7–25.
Marzin, Jacques (2013) “Les leçons et les enjeux du mouvement coopératif agraire à Cuba”, Revue internationale de l'économie sociale: Recma, 328, 63–74.
Mesa-Lago, Carmelo (1994) Breve historia económica de Cuba socialista: Políticas, resultados y perspectivas. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
Murphy, Catherine (1999) Cultivating Havana: Urban Agriculture and Food Security in the Years of Crisis. Development Report No. 12. Oakland, CA: Food First Institute for Food and Development Policy.
Nova González, Armando (2001) “La agricultura cubana previo a 1959 hasta 1990”, in Transformando el Campo Cubano. Avances de la Agricultura Sostenible. Havana: Actaf-Food First-Ceas, 1–14.
Nova González, Armando and Galia Figueroa, Alfonso (2018) “Recent transformations in Cuban agricultural policy and impacts on markets and production”, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 6(1), 78.
ONEI (2017) Panorama Ambiental Cuba 2016. Havana: Oficina Nacional de Estadística e Información.
Palma, Isela Ponce, Nahed Toral, José, Parra Vázquez, Manuel Roberto, Fonseca Fuentes, Norge and Guevara Hernández, Francisco (2015) “Historical changes in the process of agricultural development in Cuba”, Journal of Cleaner Production, 96, 77–84.
Perez Villanueva, Omar E. (2008) “La estrategia económica cubana: medio siglo de socialismo”, Cahier des Amériques Latines, 57–8, 31–55.
Raymond, Pierre (2002) “Vers une nouvelle orientation pour l'agriculture cubaine?”, Tiers Monde, 43(171), 579–98.
Rodríguez, José (1987) “Agricultural policy and development in Cuba”, World Development, 15(1), 23–39.
Rodríguez, José (2011) Notas sobre la economía cubana. Havana: Instituto Cubano de Investigación cultural Juan Marinello and Ruth Casa Editorial.
Rosset, Peter and Benjamin, Medea (1994) The Greening of the Revolution: Cuba's Experiment with Organic Agriculture. Melbourne: Ocean Press.
Roux, Maryse (1999) “L'intendance quotidienne à La Havane dans les années 1990”, Cahiers des Amériques Latines, 31, 121–44.
Suárez Salazar, Luis (2000) El siglo XXI: Posibilidades y desafíos para la Revolución Cubana. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.
Suárez Salazar, Luis (2018) “Las utopías de la Revolución Cubana: una mirada en las proximidades de su 60 aniversario”, In Encrucijadas abiertas. América Latina y el Caribe. Sociedad y pensamiento critico Abya Yala, ed. Alberto L. Bialakowsky, Nora Garita Bonilla, Marcelo Arnold Cathalifaud, Paulo Henrique Martins and Jaime A. Preciado Coronado. Buenos Aires: CLACSO, 149–82.
Valdés, Nelson P. (1997) “El estado y la transición en el socialismo: creando nuevos espacios en Cuba”, Temas, 9, 101–11.
Vasconcelos, Joana Salém (2015) “Propriedade coletiva em debate: caminhos da revolução agrária em Cuba (1959–1964)”, Revista NERA, 18(27), 240–58.
Vasconcelos, Joana Salém (2016) História agrária da revolução cubana: Dilemas do socialismo na periferia. São Paulo: Alameda.
Wallis, Victor (2004) “Technology, ecology, and socialist renewal”, Capitalism Nature Socialism, 15(2), 35–46.
Wallis, Victor (2006) “Socialism and technology: a sectoral overview”, Capitalism Nature Socialism, 17(2), 81–98.
Woodhouse, Philip (2010) “Beyond industrial agriculture? Some questions about farm size, productivity and sustainability”, Journal of Agrarian Change, 10(3), 437–453.
Zanetti, Oscar (2013) Historia mínima de Cuba. México: Colegio de México.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Altieri, Miguel A., Companioni, Nelso, Cañizares, Kristina, Murphy, Catherine, Rosset, Peter, Bourque, Martin and Nicholls, Clara I. (1999) “The greening of the ‘barrios’: urban agriculture for food security in Cuba.” Agriculture and Human Values, 16(2), 131–40.

[2] Bambirra, Vania (1974) La Revolución cubana: Una reinterpretación. Mexico: Editorial Nuestro Tiempo.

[3] Benjamin, Medea, Collins, Joseph and Scott, Michael (1987) Cuba, les enjeux de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation. Paris: L'Harmattan.

[4] Betancourt, Rafael (2018) “Social and solidarity economy and the transformation of the Cuban economic model”, International Journal of Cuban Studies, 10(2), 209–29.

[5] Betancourt, Rafael, and Sagebien, Julia (2013) “Para un crecimiento inclusivo: empresas no estatales responsables en Cuba”, Temas, 75, 58–65.

[6] Botella-Rodríguez, Elisa (2019) “Food import dependency in Cuba: still the Achilles' heel of the revolution?”, Bulletin of Latin American Research, 38(2), 192–207.

[7] Burchardt, Hans-Jürgen (2001) “Cuba's agriculture after the new reforms: between stagnation and sustainable development”, Socialism and Democracy, 15(1), 141–54.

[8] Castro, Fidel (1974) “Discurso pronunciado en el acto celebrado por el Aniversario de la muerte del líder campesino Niceto Pérez, el XV Aniversario de la firma de la Primera Ley de Reforma Agraria y el XIII Aniversario de la ANAP”, Sierra Maestra, 17 May http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/.

[9] Castro, Fidel (1980) “Discurso pronunciado en la Sesión inaugural de la XVI Conferencia Regional de la FAO para América Latina”, Havana, 1 Sept. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/.

[10] Castro, Fidel (1982) “Discurso pronunciado en la Clausura del VI Congreso de la ANAP”, Havana, 17 May. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/.

[11] Castro, Fidel (1983) The World Economic and Social Crisis. Havana: Publishing Office of the Council of State.

[12] Chonchol, Jacques (1963) “Análisis crítico de la reforma agraria cubana”, El Trimestre Económico, 30(117), 69–143.

[13] Clausen, Rebecca, Clark, Brett and Longo, Stefano B. (2015) “Metabolic rifts and restoration: agricultural crises and the potential of Cuba's organic, socialist approach to food production”, World Review of Political Economy, 6(1), 4–32.

[14] Companioni, N., Ojeda, Y., Páez, E. and Murphy, C. (2001) “La agricultura urbana en Cuba”, in Transformando el campo cubano. Avances de la agricultura sostenible. Havana: Actaf-Food First-Ceas, 93–109.

[15] Companioni, Nelso, Rodríguez-Nodals, Adolfo and Sardiñas, Justa (2017) “Avances de la agricultura urbana, suburbana y familiar”, Agroecología, 12(1), 91–8.

[16] Coraggio, José Luis (2011) Economía social y solidaria: El trabajo antes que el capital. Quito: Abya Yala.

[17] Coraggio, José Luis (2013) “Tres corrientes en la ESS”, Temas, 75, 4–11.

[18] Deleage, Jean-Paul (1989) “Eco-Marxist critique of political economy”, Capitalism Nature Socialism, 1(3), 15–31.

[19] Douzant-Rosenfeld, Denise (1999) “Les défis des réformes dans l'agriculture cubaine”, Cahiers des Amériques Latines, 31, 161–80.

[20] Dumont, René (1970) Cuba: Socialism and Development. New York: Grove Press.

[21] Escaith, Hubert (1999) “Cuba pendant la ‘période spéciale’: ajustement ou transition”, Cahiers des Amériques Latines, 31, 55–82.

[22] FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation) (2020) “Food balances”, http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FBSH (Accessed Aug. 2020).

[23] Farber, Samuel (2016) The Politics of “Che” Guevara. Chicago: Haymarket Books.

[24] Febles-González, J.M., Tolón-Becerra, A., Lastra-Bravo, X. and Acosta-Valdés, X. (2011) “Cuban agricultural policy in the last 25 years: from conventional to organic agriculture”, Land Use Policy, 28(4), 723–35.

[25] Funes Aguilar, Fernando (2017) “Reseña sobre el estado actual de la agroecología en Cuba”, Agroecología, 12(1), 7–18.

[26] Furtado, Celso (1976) Economic Development of Latin America: Historical Background and Contemporary Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[27] Gonzalez, Carmen (2003) “Seasons of resistance: sustainable agriculture and food security in Cuba”, Tulane Environmental Law Journal, 16: 685–732.

[28] Guerra Vilaboy, Sergio, and Maldonado Gallardo, Alejo (2009) Historia de la Revolución Cubana. Navarra: Txalaparta.

[29] Gürcan, Efe Can (2014) “Cuban agriculture and food sovereignty: beyond civil-society centric and globalist paradigms”, Latin American Perspectives, 41(4): 129–46.

[30] Gutelman, Michel (1963). “L'agriculture cubaine: la réforme agraire et les problèmes nouveaux”, Etudes Rurales, 8, 62–83.

[31] Gutelman, Michel (1965) “L'agriculture cubaine en 1964”, Etudes Rurales, 19, 5–31.

[32] Gutelman, Michel (1967) L'agriculture socialisée à Cuba: Enseignements et perspectives. Paris: François Maspero.

[33] Habel, Janette (2003) “Cuba. Les défis du nouveau ‘modèle‘”, Revue Tiers Monde, 173(1), 127–48.

[34] Hanon, Ingrid (2015) “Agriculture urbaine et autogestion à Cuba”, Revue internationale de l'économie sociale: Recma, 337, 84–99.

[35] Hanon, Ingrid (2019) “Workers' participation: the challenge of Cuban socialism”, Socialism and Democracy, 33(1), 88–111.

[36] Hale-Dorrell, Aaron (2015) “The Soviet Union, the United States, and industrial agriculture”, Journal of World History, 26(2), 294–324.

[37] Hernández, Gladys (2014) 'The evolution of Cuban agrarian relations”, Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, 3(2), 303–12.

[38] Herrera, Rémy (2005) Réflexions sur l'économie cubaine. Paris: Maison des sciences économiques.

[39] Karnoouh, Lorraine (2007) “A propos de la permanenceet du changement dans la Cuba contemporaine: un essai sur la ‘Période Spéciale‘”, Outre-Terre, 1(18), 337–44.

[40] Koont, Sinan (2008) ‘A Cuban success story: urban agriculture’, Review of Radical Political Economics, 40, 285–91.

[41] Levins, Richard (2005) “How Cuba is going ecological”, Capitalism Nature Socialism, 16(3), 7–25.

[42] Marzin, Jacques (2013) “Les leçons et les enjeux du mouvement coopératif agraire à Cuba”, Revue internationale de l'économie sociale: Recma, 328, 63–74.

[43] Mesa-Lago, Carmelo (1994) Breve historia económica de Cuba socialista: Políticas, resultados y perspectivas. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

[44] Murphy, Catherine (1999) Cultivating Havana: Urban Agriculture and Food Security in the Years of Crisis. Development Report No. 12. Oakland, CA: Food First Institute for Food and Development Policy.

[45] Nova González, Armando (2001) “La agricultura cubana previo a 1959 hasta 1990”, in Transformando el Campo Cubano. Avances de la Agricultura Sostenible. Havana: Actaf-Food First-Ceas, 1–14.

[46] Nova González, Armando and Galia Figueroa, Alfonso (2018) “Recent transformations in Cuban agricultural policy and impacts on markets and production”, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 6(1), 78.

[47] ONEI (2017) Panorama Ambiental Cuba 2016. Havana: Oficina Nacional de Estadística e Información.

[48] Palma, Isela Ponce, Nahed Toral, José, Parra Vázquez, Manuel Roberto, Fonseca Fuentes, Norge and Guevara Hernández, Francisco (2015) “Historical changes in the process of agricultural development in Cuba”, Journal of Cleaner Production, 96, 77–84.

[49] Perez Villanueva, Omar E. (2008) “La estrategia económica cubana: medio siglo de socialismo”, Cahier des Amériques Latines, 57–8, 31–55.

[50] Raymond, Pierre (2002) “Vers une nouvelle orientation pour l'agriculture cubaine?”, Tiers Monde, 43(171), 579–98.

[51] Rodríguez, José (1987) “Agricultural policy and development in Cuba”, World Development, 15(1), 23–39.

[52] Rodríguez, José (2011) Notas sobre la economía cubana. Havana: Instituto Cubano de Investigación cultural Juan Marinello and Ruth Casa Editorial.

[53] Rosset, Peter and Benjamin, Medea (1994) The Greening of the Revolution: Cuba's Experiment with Organic Agriculture. Melbourne: Ocean Press.

[54] Roux, Maryse (1999) “L'intendance quotidienne à La Havane dans les années 1990”, Cahiers des Amériques Latines, 31, 121–44.

[55] Suárez Salazar, Luis (2000) El siglo XXI: Posibilidades y desafíos para la Revolución Cubana. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.

[56] Suárez Salazar, Luis (2018) “Las utopías de la Revolución Cubana: una mirada en las proximidades de su 60 aniversario”, In Encrucijadas abiertas. América Latina y el Caribe. Sociedad y pensamiento critico Abya Yala, ed. Alberto L. Bialakowsky, Nora Garita Bonilla, Marcelo Arnold Cathalifaud, Paulo Henrique Martins and Jaime A. Preciado Coronado. Buenos Aires: CLACSO, 149–82.

[57] Valdés, Nelson P. (1997) “El estado y la transición en el socialismo: creando nuevos espacios en Cuba”, Temas, 9, 101–11.

[58] Vasconcelos, Joana Salém (2015) “Propriedade coletiva em debate: caminhos da revolução agrária em Cuba (1959–1964)”, Revista NERA, 18(27), 240–58.

[59] Vasconcelos, Joana Salém (2016) História agrária da revolução cubana: Dilemas do socialismo na periferia. São Paulo: Alameda.

[60] Wallis, Victor (2004) “Technology, ecology, and socialist renewal”, Capitalism Nature Socialism, 15(2), 35–46.

[61] Wallis, Victor (2006) “Socialism and technology: a sectoral overview”, Capitalism Nature Socialism, 17(2), 81–98.

[62] Woodhouse, Philip (2010) “Beyond industrial agriculture? Some questions about farm size, productivity and sustainability”, Journal of Agrarian Change, 10(3), 437–453.

[63] Zanetti, Oscar (2013) Historia mínima de Cuba. México: Colegio de México.